Welcome to Super Bowl LVII — sports betting's biggest holiday! The list of bets you can make on Chiefs-Eagles is super intimidating, to be frank. In any given week in the NFL, you'll see sportsbooks offer odds on the moneyline, point spread, point total, and a myriad of player props.
What makes the Super Bowl really special is the variety. You can bet on ANYTHING. It feels like there are no limits, which is pretty darn cool.
Need a refresher on betting terminology before we get started? Head over to The GS Betting Academy for a quick lesson, then be sure to return here, so we can finish building our perfect parlay.
Alright, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Before we get into how to build a parlay, let's first take a look at what it is. A parlay is a type of wager in sports betting where you tie two or more bets together to increase your potential payout. Sounds great, right? Who doesn't love more money?! There must be catch, right?
The thing with parlays, however, is that every single bet you attach to that parlay MUST hit — or the whole thing goes kaput, we go home, sad and moneyless, and our friends make fun of us in the group chat.
Now, this article won't outline specific bets for your parlays, but should rather be used as a guide for how to build your own. If you'd like to see what bets I'm liking for Super Bowl 57, you can check them out as a starting point for your own parlay. As the old adage goes, I’m teaching you to fish, or whatever.
Tips for constructing the perfect parlay
Consider what you're most confident about for the game in question. Start there and build your parlay out from there.
For example: Are you projecting a high-scoring game with lots of offense? Great, that gives an idea of where we should start! Who do you think will score the points? Or, maybe you think the Chiefs will fall behind early but make their comeback because — duh, their quarterback is Patrick Mahomes — consider betting the over on his second-half passing yard total, instead of his total for the entire game.
Make sure your parlay makes sense, in the most basic way. Don't just throw bets on top of bets. Make sure those individual bets within your parlay make sense once they're packaged together.
For example: If you're betting on the UNDER for the game's point total, it doesn't make much sense to stack a bunch of "anytime touchdown scorer" prop bets on top of that in a parlay. Those two bets are counterintuitive in nature. In the same breath, if you're taking the under on a quarterback's passing yards, it wouldn't make sense to take the over on receiving yards for the respective skill players within that offense.
Use that same kind of thought process when deciding on additional bets (aka, legs) to add to your parlay.
For example, if you want to bet on Chiefs TE Travis Kelce to score 2+ touchdowns this weekend, consider parlaying that bet with the OVER on Patrick Mahomes passing touchdowns, currently set at 1.5. Think about it — if you believe that a player is catching two touchdown passes, someone has to throw them, right? Stack bets together that make sense!
Things to remember when building a parlay
Parlays are not a great way to win money long-term. Never invest more than you can afford on any bet, but any time you wager on a parlay, you must remember that the odds are stacked against you. That's why the profit margins are higher on parlays than they are for standalone bets. You win more money because there is more risk.
They're also really fun to root for, even if they're not the best way to win money while betting. There's nothing wrong with using parlays as a fun way to engage with a game you're already watching. In fact, it's what we're all about here at Gaming Society!
We know betting the "overs" are inherently more fun than betting the "unders" — and sportsbooks know this too. Sometimes, the most fun things to root for, however, are not the smartest bets. There were just five total teams in the NFL that have hit the "over" in more than 50% of their games this year.
Good luck, friends!
